Chuck is my brother-in-law, and although we have a lot of fun discussing recipes and how “Artichoke Hart” would cook things, I am obviously not the only chef in the family. This summer appetizer, served on one of the last hot days of summer, was so excrutiatingly tasty, I had to bow down to his…

Read More

I’m always looking for a new salad, and when it includes Tomato–and my favourite cheese, Halloumi–then I’m in. This one is based on nectarines, but they must be very ripe. The combination of sweet nectarines with juicy tomatoes, combined with the salty, squeaky pan-seared halloumi is remarkable to the taste buds. Be sure to have…

Read More

Fusion cooking is simply combining two cultures and coming up with one dish. Indeed, some will say all food is some kind of fusion which is true in many cases. Fried fish in Thai and Bratwurst in Italian Pasta, are good examples. In this dish, I combined chicken and cilantro dumplings (Chinese) with pasta sauce…

Read More

Even chefs have leftovers. In fact, Artichoke Hart virtually lives off them. Once Al and the team have finished for the evening, he’ll often skip down to the huge fridge and drag out anything in plastic containers, or covered in surface wrap. This one is made up of a few straggler perogies, a small baggie…

Read More

Sometimes, Artichoke Hart sees something in a kitchen store, flea market, or vendor market that piques his interest; a new utensil, cooking tool, or a serving platter that would allow for a unique presentation. Often, it would inspire a snack or a meal, like this pottery piece he found at an outdoor vendor market. It…

Read More

In a past life, I lived with someone of Eastern European heritage. The family loved traditional foods such as Cabbage Rolls, Halushki, and of course, Perogies. But if you didn’t serve the latter with butter, onions, bacon and sour cream, it was sacrilege. Upon leaving that household, I decided that the delicious little dumplings deserved…

Read More

When Artichoke Hart went into Young Oppenheimer’s Grocery Store, (New York Fried, Sunao Publishing) he was surprised to see the wide array of fish available. For such a town so close to water (Lake Ontario), it still seemed odd to find fish that were common to the Atlantic. This monkfish was sitting on ice and…

Read More

Once again, Artichoke Hart found himself with an excess of non-drinkable red wine. And so, searching for recipes that utilized other excess-purchased products–like sausage–he came across this simple dish that was perfect for a late afternoon barbeque on the terrace at the Complex in Oswego. (New York Fried, Sunao Publishing). Though simple, if patient with…

Read More

I can’t think of a better dish during self-isolation (Covid-19). With all that extra wine sitting around, and not wanting to drink all day, I came up with a plan for dinner: drunken pasta. Now, despite using 2 cups of wine, don’t be alarmed. You won’t get drunk off this dish. It is, however, decadent,…

Read More

During the COVID crisis, takeout became the main source of income for the Artichoke Hart restaurant in Baltimore (other than Hart’s CIA income, of course).  Simple dishes were both popular, easy and quick to make, and were low cost: perfect for the situation where gourmet-style dishes were required but needed to be simple enough to…

Read More